Quaker pumps up your dividend

Article Excerpt

QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP. $163 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol KWR; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 18.0 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.quakerhoughton.com) acquired rival specialty chemicals maker Houghton International in August 2019. It paid Houghton’s owners $170.8 million in cash and a 24.5% stake in the combined company. To offset rising costs for raw materials, particularly oil-based chemicals, Quaker has raised its selling prices. That’s mainly why its sales in the quarter ended June 30, 2023, rose 0.6%, to $495.4 million from $492.4 million a year earlier. As well, a cost-control plan helped lift earnings before unusual items by 46.2%, to $1.93 a share from $1.32. Thanks to its improving earnings, Quaker will raise your quarterly dividend by 4.6%. Starting with the October 2023 payment, investors will receive $0.455 a share instead of $0.435. The new annual rate of $1.82 yields 1.1%. The company has now raised that annual…